Re: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE

Correct, Daniel.  I may have been too obvious just illustrating the
concept, you caught it in nanoseconds.
The == does  not exist in RPG, that explains why I wrote it in very
plain RPG or the most approximate expression.
This is not actually even a discussion.  It was only a comment.  Just to
see if IBM could just include the concept in RPG.  Period.
I knew I saw it in an IBM Ideas item a long time ago, I won't talk about it
again.  Was just a suggestion.  I don't think it's a fat budget to get that
done.

Thanks.
JS

El jue, 11 dic 2025 a las 10:40, Daniel Gross (<[email protected]>) escribió:

>
> Hi Paul and Javier,
>
> first - I think it would be great, to have a C-like ternary operator, and
> yes, the example of Javier was a bit odd.
>
> >> boolVal = (a = b ? 0: 1)
>
> In real C this should be: boolVal = (a == b ? 0 : 1)
>
> But the C compiler wouldn't warn you, that you should have used the "=="
> comparison operator instead of the "=" assignment operator. But we don't
> have that problem in RPG, as the RPG compiler switches the "=" operator
> between assignment and comparison depending on context.
>
> In RPG you already can to this instead: boolVal = ( a = b );
>
> But a real ? operator would be cool: charVal = ( a = b ? 'equal' : 'not
> equal' );
>
> There are already is an idea for a ternary operator:
> https://ibm-power-systems.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IBMI-I-1417
>
> Regards,
> Daniel
>
>
> > Am 11.12.2025 um 16:59 schrieb Javier Sanchez <
> [email protected]>:
> > Paul,
> >
> > "C" has it as a native language for over decades.  Can't see why that
> would
> > be complex for them to follow and make it available for devs.
> > Of course, and WADR, you need to "know what you are doing" with your
> return
> > value.  That is kind of your intellectual work.
> > Efficiency and cleanliness of code is vital for modern languages. Elegant
> > code is, and simplicity is a major goal in our era.
> >
> > JS
> >
> > El jue, 11 dic 2025 a las 9:50, Paul Therrien via RPG400-L (<
> > [email protected]>) escribió:
> >
> >> Not knowing 'C' I asked Google.
> >>
> >> Google AI says this:
> >>
> >> The statement boolVal = (a = b ? 0: 1) in C is a syntactically valid but
> >> potentially confusing use of the ternary operator and assignment
> operator
> >> within a single expression [1].
> >>
> >> What it does
> >> Essentially, the line of code is a verbose way of setting boolVal based
> on
> >> whether b is zero or not, while simultaneously changing the value of a:
> >> If b is 0: a becomes 1, and boolVal becomes 1.
> >> If b is non-zero: a becomes 0, and boolVal becomes 0.
> >>
> >> I think I can see why IBM might not be in a hurry to handle this
> request.
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: RPG400-L <[email protected]> On Behalf Of
> Javier
> >> Sanchez
> >> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2025 10:12 AM
> >> To: RPG programming on IBM i <[email protected]>
> >> Subject: Re: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE
> >>
> >> Vern,
> >> I believe I saw this once already posted, not sure, but if necessary, I
> >> will put it in as an IBM Ideas item.
> >> On the side of IBM, this could be something rather obvious, and probably
> >> not wait to have it submitted, WADR.
> >> JS
> >>
> >> El jue, 11 dic 2025 a las 9:04, Vern Hamberg via RPG400-L (<
> >> [email protected]>) escribió:
> >>
> >>> Javier
> >>> Have you submitted this as an Idea? IBM do listen to us, and I'm very
> >>> impressed about that.
> >>> *Regards*
> >>> *Vern Hamberg*
> >>> IBM Champion 2025 <cid:[email protected]> CAAC
> >>> (COMMON Americas Advisory Council) IBM Influencer 2023
> >>> On 12/11/2025 8:14 AM, Javier Sanchez wrote:
> >>>> Thanks Barbara.  Nothing better than explanations coming from the
> >>> creators
> >>>> of the compiler.  Of course you guys know what all that means and
> >>>> your contributions will always be appreciated.
> >>>> BTW, I have wondered a lot why you guys have not yet implemented the
> >>> C-like
> >>>> expression as:
> >>>> boolVal = (a = b ? 0: 1);
> >>>> This is not only necessary for modern RPG but it should have been
> >>> provided
> >>>> long time ago! :-)
> >>>> JS
> >>>> El mié, 10 dic 2025 a las 22:04, Barbara Morris
> >>>> (<[email protected]>)
> >>>> escribió:
> >>>>> On 2025-12-10 12:25 p.m., James H. H. Lampert via RPG400-L wrote:
> >>>>>> On 12/10/25 4:06 AM, Infodorado InfoDorado via RPG400-L wrote:
> >>>>>>> The RPG compiler is a single-pass compiler
> >>>>>> No, it can't be pure single-pass. If it were, then a program in
> >>>>>> which a variable is NOT defined in a D-spec, nor in the first
> >>>>>> C-spec in which
> >>> it
> >>>>>> appears, would not compile, much less run. And it's trivially
> >>>>>> simple to construct an example of this (it took me about 2
> >>>>>> minutes), and it compiles and runs just fine. I'd quote the source
> >>>>>> here, but it would likely be mangled beyond recognition.
> >>>>> It's a single pass through the source but it gathers information
> >>>>> that it can use multiple times.
> >>>>> The compiler usually allows forward-referencing, so you can code
> >>>>> LIKE(x) where x is defined later.
> >>>>> But for free-form definitions, the compiler requires the parameter
> >>>>> for the data-type keywords to be defined before the keyword is seen.
> >>>>>     dcl-s x char(con1);  // bad, con1 not defined yet
> >>>>>     dcl-c con1 5;
> >>>>>     dcl-s y char(con1);  // ok, con1 is defined
> >>>>> Where it becomes extra fun is when you have a data structure that
> >>>>> LOOKS defined.
> >>>>>     dcl-ds ds1;
> >>>>>        subf char(10);
> >>>>>     end-ds;
> >>>>>     dcl-s x char(%size(ds1));  // %size(ds1) is not defined. WHAT???
> >>>>> RPG allows you to define the length of a data structure later,
> >>>>> either due to being on an I spec, possible an externally-described
> >>>>> I spec, or on a C spec.
> >>>>>       C            MOVE    *blanks       ds1        50
> >>>>> Almost certainly wrong columns, but you get what I mean. I'm
> >>>>> defining
> >>>>> DS1 to have a length of 50 here, not the length of 10 that it
> >>>>> looked like it should have. Shenanigans? Yep, but upward-compatible R
> >> Us.
> >>>>> We have a H-spec/CTL-OPT keyword for that: DLCOPT(*NOCHGDSLEN).
> >>>>> With that keyword, the compiler doesn't allow you to change the
> >>>>> length of the data structure like that, so it's considered defined
> >>>>> as soon as all the subfields are defined.
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> Barbara
> >>>>> --
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